Meet Me Halfway
by Kowareta1468
Summary: Gray Fullbuster gets a part-time job at his local grocery store, Spend'n Less, and meets a beautiful blonde girl. All his attempts to speak with her end in failure, and he soon discovers why: Lucy is Deaf. When Gray learns how to meet her halfway, will he finally get the girl? Drabble.


**Hey, everone! This is just a cute thought I've had running through my head. I hope you enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail**

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"Excuse me, may I have an application?" a young man asked. He smiled at the old lady behind the service desk and flipped his hair out of his eyes.

The old lady chewed her gum a moment as if she had to consider if she would provide the young man with the packet. After a few moments she sighed and reached into a drawer beneath her. "Please write in blue or black ink," she said, clearly bored, "and don't write sloppily, or you might as well through it right in the trash."

The young man was a little startled. "Yes, ma'am."

"You can fill it out over there if you'd like." She motioned to a small counter by the extra grocery carts.

"Thank you." He also accepted a pen - black ink of course - and walked over to the counter.

The application didn't look too complicated, which he was grateful for. He wrote "Gray Fullbuster" at the top of the form, then begin filling in his basic information such as his address, birth date, social security number, and references. For the position, he wrote "any", just as his mother told him to. When he was finished, he took the packet back to the old woman.

The old woman looked over the paper and nodded twice. "Looks good," she said. "We'll give you a call if we're interested."

Gray thanked the woman again before exiting the store. On his way out he held the door for a young woman with silky blonde hair who happened to be wearing the store uniform. He smiled, hoping he'd be seeing more of her.

X

One week and two days later, Gray received a phone call from Spend'n Less; he was hired as a Stocker. He could start the next day. Gray was excited, and he barely slept that night.

Being a Stocker wasn't hard. He just had to take the boxes from the grocery shipments and put the items on the shelves. The merchandise was divided in sections, and he just had to match the UPC, the number on the barcode, with the shelf tag.

On Gray's third day of working, he ran into the blonde girl. They met at the time clock, and he gave her his best smile. She gave a little smile back, but quickly walked away. He didn't get discouraged, however, especially when he discovered she was also a Stocker.

The blonde girl grabbed a cart full of soup, so Gray made sure to grab noodles, since they were in the same aisle. While they emptied their cart full of boxes, he kept stealing glances at her. She seemed shy, so Gray didn't try speaking to her; he would save that for next time. He didn't manage to see the name on her nametag: Lucy.

The next time Gray worked with Lucy, his manager told him to work off the same cart as her, since there wasn't as many to work from. Gray was happy to do so; this was his chance! He waited until they finished a few boxes and were into their groove before saying, "So how long have you worked here?"

Lucy didn't respond. She just kept trying to rip the tape off her box. Gray reached over and used his knife to cut the tape for her, which earned him a smile. Assuming she hadn't heard him the first time, he said again, "How long have you worked here?"

This time, Gray knew that she heard him. Her face turned thoughtful, then she slowly said, "One year."

Gray thought that she sounded sick, which would explain why she wasn't very chatty. This cheered him up; she didn't necessarily not like him.

At the end of the shift, Gray said to Lucy, "I had fun working with you today." She didn't respond, but she did give him another smile.

Gray didn't work for a few days, which gave him time to gather his determination. He was going to woe Lucy the next shift they worked together. But first, he needed intel. He stopped by Spend'n Less the next time his friend, Natsu was working.

"I have a question," Gray said. "You know pretty much everyone here, right?"

"Sure I do," Natsu said. He'd been working at the store as a cashier for almost two years. "What's up?"

"What's Lucy's deal?" he asked. "She's always smiling around me, but she hardly talks."

Natsu laughed. "You're joking, right?" he asked.

"No, why would I be?" Gray asked. "Am I missing something?"

Natsu made two circles with his hands and moved them away from his body. Then he touched his pinky to his forehead. "My break's over, so I have to go," he said, leaving a dumbfounded Gray behind.

X

Gray thought about what Natsu did for two days. He couldn't grasp what Natsu was trying to tell him, and he was still confused when he had his next shift with Lucy.

Like usual, Lucy simply smiled at him. Gray smiled, too, and went to get his cart. Again, the managers wanted them to work together. Gray would have been happy, but he was too focused on Natsu and what he was motioning.

Gray was no stranger to hand motions. High school guys always made them, mostly those with perverted meanings. He had never seen what Natsu was doing, though. He put two fists up and moved them back and forth, then started touching his pinky to his head. Doing the motion brought him no closer to knowing what they meant, though. He thought that if he did the motion then the metaphorical light bulb would go off, but he was wrong.

Lucy touched his shoulder, making him flinch. She had a look of confusion on her face.

"Oh," Gray said. "Natsu did this to me the other day." He made his fists and spread them apart, then touched his pinky to his forehead.

Lucy started giggling, which made Gray's face heat up. He probably shouldn't have just made random motions to her, because _of course_ she would know what Natsu was doing; they were probably friends.

Instead of making a joke at Gray, Lucy simply repeated what Natsu had done. She made two circles with her hands and spread them apart, then touched her pinky to her forehead. He realized that he had made the motions slightly different, but seeing her do them correctly still didn't help.

Lucy giggled again, seeing he was still confused. "Clueless," she said, repeating the motion.

"Yeah, I'm clueless," he said, "I don't know what it means. Do you?"

Lucy made the motion again. Then she made the number five with one hand and the number 2 with another and touched her hands together quickly. "Clueless," she said.

"Oh!" Gray gasped. "Are you talking with your hands?"

Lucy nodded. She took her pointer finger and touched her ear, then her chin.

Gray copied the motion, trying to figure out what he meant. He finally gave up and said, "Okay, you got me. What is that?"

Lucy scrunched her eyebrows down. "Slow," she said, as she drug her hand up her opposite arm.

"Talk slower," Gray said. "What. Does. That. Mean." He gave a pregnant pause between each word.

"Too slow," she said, giggling again. "Deaf." She touched her ear then her chin again.

Gray's face heated up. She was Deaf. She couldn't hear him.

Lucy smiled. She lifted a hand and moved it quickly, rubbed her two palms together, then put her two fists together with her pointer extended. "Lucy. Nice to meet you."

Gray smiled. He had never met anyone who was Deaf, so he had never seen anyone speak with their hands before. He was completely mesmerized. "You too," he said.

Lucy smiled one last time, then went back to working on the boxes. Gray did the same.

X

Gray didn't work the next day, but he drove to Spend'n Less anyways. Lucy was working, and he had something to ask her. He had stayed up most of the night researching, and he couldn't wait any longer to speak with her.

Lucy was putting dog food on the shelf when Gray found her. He came up behind her and tapped her shoulder. She spun around, surprised. She smiled when she saw it was Gray.

Gray waved at her. He took a deep breath before beginning. He held up two fingers and moved them back and forth between them. Then he took both pointer fingers and motioned them away from his body. Finally, he made two fists with his pointer fingers sticking up and touched them together. _Go on a date with me?_

Lucy smiled wide. She put her pointer finger in the air and wagged it back and forth. _Where?_

Gray knew what she said. In his research the night before, he learned that Deaf people used American Sign Language to speak. Deaf people could read lips, but it was difficult, especially if they didn't know the person well. Knowing this, Gray spent the night learning common signs.

Gray pinched the fingers on one hand together as if he was sprinkling seasoning and pressed them to his mouth. _Food_. He made his hand into an "o" then crossed his two fingers. _Or_. Then he put his left hand out like he was going to shake someone's hand, put the palm of his right hand adjacently to his left, and shook his right hand back and forth. _Movie_.

Lucy put a hand to her mouth and laughed loudly. She nodded her fist up and down. _Yes_.

Gray smiled. He pointed to Lucy, then made two fists and rubbed his hands together at his wrists.

Lucy laughed. "Make-out," she said, copying what he signed.

Gray blushed down to his neck. "No!" he exclaimed. He signed again and said, "Work."

Lucy grabbed his hands and turned them slightly, then tapped his wrists together instead of rubbing. "Work," she said.

"I didn't mean that," he rambled. "I mean, not that I wouldn't want to...I just, you know-"

Lucy put a finger to his lips. "Slow," she said. She couldn't read his lips when he was rambling. "Movie tomorrow night." She briefly kissed his cheek before turning back to continue working.

Gray was still stunned when he reached his car and drove home. He only had one thought running through his mind:

Boy, do I need to learn more sign language.

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I **have been learning ASL for almost a year now, so all grammatical structures and signs are correct, as well as a few Deaf facts I have included. Deaf people really do struggle to read lips when they don't know a person well, and they also do have an accent. A Deaf accent can crudely be described as someone having a cold with a stuffed nose. If you are interested in learning more about ASL and/or Deaf culture, feel free to reach out to me or any of the resources online. I think a great site is handspeak** . **com, which teaches sign language and Deaf culture.**


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